In further analyses, carboplatin had a significant benefit in patients with a high HRD score but intact tumor BRCA, but not in patients with mutated tumor BRCA.
Findings differed slightly when the investigators repeated analyses but instead used a stricter definition of pCR that calls for absence of both invasive and noninvasive (ductal carcinoma in situ) residual disease in the breast and nodes (ypT0 ypN0), according to Dr. von Minckwitz.
Given that the majority of HR-deficient tumors did not have a BRCA mutation, the investigators plan to assess other drivers of HR deficiency, he said.
Dr. von Minckwitz disclosed employment, leadership, and stock ownership relationships with GBG Forschungs GmbH and research funding to his institution by Amgen, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Celgene, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi, and Teva. The trial was funded by Teva, Roche Pharma AG, and GlaxoSmithKline.